RALEIGH – Vincent Wiggins of Rocky Mount matched all five numbers in the Saturday, April 27, Cash 5 drawing to win the $355,410 jackpot.

“I was ecstatic and thankful,” said Wiggins, who collected his check Thursday morning at lottery headquarters. His lucky ticket beat odds of 1 in 575,757.

Wiggins learned of his prize Wednesday night after hearing that the winning ticket had been purchased at the JMS Food Mart on East Raleigh Boulevard in Rocky Mount - the same store where he had purchased his ticket.

“The guy said, ‘Someone here won $300,000 in the Cash 5,’” he recalled. “He said, ‘Go home and check your ticket.’ And I did.”

After taxes were withheld, Wiggins received a check for $241,679.

Ticket sales for games such as Carolina Cash 5 have enabled the lottery to raise more than $2.8 billion for education initiatives statewide. Since the lottery began through June 30, 2012, Edgecombe County education programs received more than $15.4 million in lottery funds. By law, those funds pay for teachers’ salaries in grades K-3, school construction, prekindergarten programs for at-risk four-year-olds, and need-based college scholarships and financial aid.